"Stop Killing Games" initiative

Mr Fish said:

Yeah I started to grown an increasingly toxic anxiety that disallowed me from enjoying anything because I'm "wasting time" with it so I decided to change my mindset as to how I played games in order to complete the backlog. I am playing a game to finish it, I am not interested in 100% it. I also decided that if I bought something I should try it, but it doesn't mean that if it is crap that I have to be stuck with it.

Some games I played for like 20 minutes and asked myself "is this worth investing my time into? Do I find the game redeemable enough to continue it?" If I didn't I just filtered it. Put it in Hidden. Out of sight out of mind.

I didn't allow myself to play older games I wanted to replay. Deus Ex is a known. I KNOW I enjoy Deus Ex. So if I have a choice between a game I bought 3 years ago at a whim that I'm uncertain about and Deus Ex well... I'll pick Deus Ex. The only way to get through that backlog is to just strongarm yourself into playing the games. Sheer discipline. You WILL play this game and that's final. You can't always wait around for the mood to strike you.

And obviously, do not buy new games.

But if you don't have the same anxiety that I do about a messy closet that you promised yourself you would clean but never did and every time you look at it you go "nah I can't be arsed" so it never happens; Then you might not need to do this. But me, I did. I had to just force it. Sit down, play the games, get through them. Enjoy them, but don't overenjoy them, you got too much stuff to go through to drag things out.

And if a game is like Crusader Kings 2 (which I own) then the simplest answer I found was to just ignore its existence until I got done with all the the other stuff that isn't as much of a time investment. I still haven't had the free time to really invest into CK2 to learn it and enjoy it so it is technically still backlogged for me until I can find the proper free time for it.

If getting through the backlog is a priority for you then you just gotta prioritize the games and ask yourself when playing them "do I really have to do EVERYTHING?"

And of course take a break every once in a while to just chill in front of a good ol goodie.

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I actually have a similar anxiety, or at least had. My backlog is quite large, as I've said, and it's spread over two platforms. I've accumulated a lot of games in a way which seems cheap (8 bucks for 10 games? Why not), but was in reality a waste of money nonetheless because most of those games never ever got their turn. So I was looking at 1000+ titles accumulated in what is basically almost 20 years, games of which realistically I was interested in like 200 tops. Which is still an insanely large number if you consider them as a time investment. It's thousands upon thousands of hours.
Sure, I know a lot of people who have no issues spending 1000+ hours in stuff like DOTA, but I simply don't have that time on my hands, not anymore. Not with a job, stuff around the apartment, other hobbies - I read a lot too, for instance, but I also like cycling, socializing, painting Warhammer etc. All of those are time investments on their own, not to mention the financial cost.

I already have a so called pile of shame in Warhammer, which is a fairly normal thing.
I apparently have a gaming pile of shame too.

No need to make the pile larger.

Once I started looking at these things primarily from the time investment perspective, I started spending less and less money on it and actually began to clear my backlog.

If the game doesn't grab me in the first 40 minutes, I usually abandon it, unless I have a really, really, really good recommendation from a trusted source, in which case I tend to push on and give it a chance.
If it's a sort of endless title (which I enjoy), I basically force myself to avoid it for the time being. It's a low priority game. Sweet, forbidden fruit.
Replays aren't much of an issue because I tend to have a vivid memory of games, and basically replay them only after a lot of time has passed, but yeah, they can be a time sink too.


Then again, what really helped me was when I realized is that all of this, the whole anxiety issue is just something I am giving myself.

I don't have to complete all of the games in the same manner that I won't be able to see everything I would like to see and experience in life. You just gotta miss out on some stuff, that's life.
I mean it doesn't really bother me that I won't see Australian wilderness most likely, and definitely won't see the Antarctica (which I would like to nonetheless), so if those far-fetched things don't bother me, why should I feel so bad about not devoting some time in my life and sitting in front of a computer to play some game that I might or might not enjoy.
It's kinda absurd.

So I just stopped giving a shit. And I stopped wasting money for the most part.

I have "cleaned room" just to make it easier for myself in the future, but in general, I just don't worry about that stuff much anymore. Not enough to get anxious.
But I can understand the sentiment.

We're talking about people who actually spend money on Steam. And among those, there's definitely a habit of spending money on highly discounted games, which presumably never get to be played, but Steam racks up the cash.

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Naa, must be the memes.

I don't think I'm the only one with the spending habits I have, the "Am I the only one?" is always a dumb assumption when billions of folks are to be considered.

But there are even more user types. Like those weirdos who play just a single game all the time (mostly that being CS or similarly "popular" game). Yes, they sort of spend money, but no, you can't expect a CS addict to take part in Steam sales (what would he buy there, new CS point shop items, lol?).

Atomkilla said:

I actually have a similar anxiety, or at least had. My backlog is quite large, as I've said, and it's spread over two platforms. I've accumulated a lot of games in a way which seems cheap (8 bucks for 10 games? Why not), but was in reality a waste of money nonetheless because most of those games never ever got their turn. So I was looking at 1000+ titles accumulated in what is basically almost 20 years, games of which realistically I was interested in like 200 tops. Which is still an insanely large number if you consider them as a time investment. It's thousands upon thousands of hours.
Sure, I know a lot of people who have no issues spending 1000+ hours in stuff like DOTA, but I simply don't have that time on my hands, not anymore. Not with a job, stuff around the apartment, other hobbies - I read a lot too, for instance, but I also like cycling, socializing, painting Warhammer etc. All of those are time investments on their own, not to mention the financial cost.

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Exactly. Time is a valuable resource and managing it can be quite tricky.

Atomkilla said:

Once I started looking at these things primarily from the time investment perspective, I started spending less and less money on it and actually began to clear my backlog.

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Yknow, this is pretty much how I view snacks, candy and fast food since I lost weight. It changed how I perceive things. I don't look at candy and go "mm, yummy" I ask myself whether I want to invest the calories into my daily routine and skip out on something else or whether it is even worth it to begin with.

It's so easy to indulge when you don't have a care in the world but when you're sitting there with your baggage weighing you down you start to calculate things in your head as to what is worth investing in.

I've started to look at other things this way too. Youtube videos to keep up with politics is getting exhaustive. Even memes are becoming too much of a doomscrolling problem for me. Once you start looking at things like that it reverberates throughout all interests as to how much you're willing to investment and how much is TOO much.

Atomkilla said:

If the game doesn't grab me in the first 40 minutes, I usually abandon it, unless I have a really, really, really good recommendation from a trusted source, in which case I tend to push on and give it a chance.

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I'mma be honest, while I did this too I sometimes worry I don't give games a fair chance because of it. Like, I'm being so hypercritical about something that I can't see the forest for the trees. If I were to judge System Shock 2 the same way would I ever have played it? Probably not. But because I played it way back when I didn't look at things in this critical light of "is it worth my time" I pushed through and managed to find the fun and now love the game.

You HAVE to be hypercritical going through a backlog of anything. But there is that tiny voice in the back of my head that wormtongue me saying that I didn't 'really' give it its fair chance.

There isn't really a right or wrong solution to it. You're not gonna go through the backlog being overly lenient but you probably are going to miss out on something that could have been fun had you stuck with it.

Atomkilla said:

Then again, what really helped me was when I realized is that all of this, the whole anxiety issue is just something I am giving myself.

I don't have to complete all of the games in the same manner that I won't be able to see everything I would like to see and experience in life. You just gotta miss out on some stuff, that's life.
I mean it doesn't really bother me that I won't see Australian wilderness most likely, and definitely won't see the Antarctica (which I would like to nonetheless), so if those far-fetched things don't bother me, why should I feel so bad about not devoting some time in my life and sitting in front of a computer to play some game that I might or might not enjoy.
It's kinda absurd.

So I just stopped giving a shit. And I stopped wasting money for the most part.

I have "cleaned room" just to make it easier for myself in the future, but in general, I just don't worry about that stuff much anymore. Not enough to get anxious.
But I can understand the sentiment.

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That is a very healthy attitude towards it. My backlog didn't list in the thousands and I am a loser with no life so I had nothing but time to dedicate towards it but yeah, it isn't that important and it shouldn't consume you. The anxiety is at the end of the day selfinflicted.

Thanks to me not letting go of my anxiety however I finally got around to reading the french comic bundle I got off of humblebumble and there was a TON of really good comics in it that I always just pushed off as "I'll do it later". Silver lining?

Mr Fish said:

Yknow, this is pretty much how I view snacks, candy and fast food since I lost weight. It changed how I perceive things. I don't look at candy and go "mm, yummy" I ask myself whether I want to invest the calories into my daily routine and skip out on something else or whether it is even worth it to begin with.

It's so easy to indulge when you don't have a care in the world but when you're sitting there with your baggage weighing you down you start to calculate things in your head as to what is worth investing in.

I've started to look at other things this way too. Youtube videos to keep up with politics is getting exhaustive. Even memes are becoming too much of a doomscrolling problem for me. Once you start looking at things like that it reverberates throughout all interests as to how much you're willing to investment and how much is TOO much.

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That's a solid approach, definitely. I should try to incorporate that too in my routine. I don't really have weight issues, but it wouldn't hurt me to cut down on some unnecessary carbs during the day since I do have a sweet tooth.

I agree about the YT thing completely. I had a solid streak last year where I was constantly watching videos on political issues - partially out of genuine interest, partially as a procrastination tool and partially because I got obsessed about not missing out whatever random issue happened and out of habit to watch videos made by X.
I cut it almost all out after US elections because I realized that I was in a bit of a bubble, but also because it started to really get to me.

I still watch such videos, but a lot less and have stopped following plenty of content creators whose work has turned out to have little to no real value for me, or isn't all that interesting and was just a force of habit.
Doomscrolling was never an issue for me, at least not much. I don't really use social networks and have deleted reddit ages ago from my phone. Occasional log in via my laptop isn't much of an issue.

Mr Fish said:

I'mma be honest, while I did this too I sometimes worry I don't give games a fair chance because of it. Like, I'm being so hypercritical about something that I can't see the forest for the trees. If I were to judge System Shock 2 the same way would I ever have played it? Probably not. But because I played it way back when I didn't look at things in this critical light of "is it worth my time" I pushed through and managed to find the fun and now love the game.

You HAVE to be hypercritical going through a backlog of anything. But there is that tiny voice in the back of my head that wormtongue me saying that I didn't 'really' give it its fair chance.

There isn't really a right or wrong solution to it. You're not gonna go through the backlog being overly lenient but you probably are going to miss out on something that could have been fun had you stuck with it.

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It's inevitable that some stuff will be missed out on. But hey, such is life. There are always unintended victims and collateral damage.
If it turns out it was a mistake, you can always give a game/book/film/music album/whatever another chance. Not many things in life have that quality, so it's no biggie.

Worst case scenario of me not playing it - from an utilitarian viewpoint, by buying the game, I have already supported the people behind it. If anything, that arguably matters more because more people prosper because of that, whereas me playing the game is mostly for my own sake.

Mr Fish said:

That is a very healthy attitude towards it. My backlog didn't list in the thousands and I am a loser with no life so I had nothing but time to dedicate towards it but yeah, it isn't that important and it shouldn't consume you. The anxiety is at the end of the day selfinflicted.

Thanks to me not letting go of my anxiety however I finally got around to reading the french comic bundle I got off of humblebumble and there was a TON of really good comics in it that I always just pushed off as "I'll do it later". Silver lining?

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It's good when there's silver lining. There isn't always, sadly.
But yeah, some of those rabid bundle purchases ages ago or monthly games from Playstation did help me dig up some real jewels that I would have otherwise missed out on.